Wednesday, August 8, 2012

The Beach Boys Release 50th Anniversary Collection

For five decades, America's first pop band to reach the 50 year
milestone has recorded and performed the music that has become the
world's favorite soundtrack to summer.

Founded in Hawthorne, California in 1961, The Beach Boys were originally comprised of the three teenaged Wilson brothers: Brian, Carl and Dennis, their cousin Mike Love, and school friend Al Jardine. In 1962, neighbor David Marks joined the group for their first wave of hits with Capitol Records, leaving in late 1963, and in 1965, Bruce Johnston joined the band when Brian Wilson retired from touring to focus on writing and producing for the group.

The Beach Boys signed with Capitol Records in July 1962 and released their first album, Surfin' Safari, that same year. The album spent 37 weeks on the Billboard chart, launching the young group known for its shimmering vocal harmonies and relaxed California
style into international stardom. The Wilson/Love collaboration
resulted in many huge international chart hits, and under Brian Wilson's
musical leadership, the band's initial surf-rock focus was soon
broadened to include other themes, making The Beach Boys America's
preeminent band of the 1960s.

The Beach Boys' new 50th Anniversary Greatest Hits collection features 20 of the band's most popular songs, including "California Girls," "Good Vibrations," "Surfin' U.S.A.," "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "God Only Knows," "Kokomo," their latest single "That's Why God Made The Radio," and many more.

A deluxe, career-spanning 2CD box and digital collection titled Greatest Hits: 50 Big Ones
will also be released, featuring 50 Beach Boys favorites, including two
songs from the band's new album -- the title track "That's Why God Made
The Radio" and a new single version of "Isn't It Time," which will be
serviced to radio in September. The 2CD lift-top box package also
includes an expanded booklet with newly written liner notes by Rolling Stone contributing editor David Wild and seven postcards.

The 12 Beach Boys studio albums have been digitally remastered by Mark Linett and will be released on CD and digitally, most featuring mono and stereo mixes. The albums are: Surfin' U.S.A.; Surfer Girl; Little Deuce Coupe; Shut Down, Volume 2; All Summer Long;The Beach Boys Today!; Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!); Beach Boys Party!; Pet Sounds; Smiley Smile; Sunflower (stereo mix only); and Surf's Up (stereo mix only). These releases mark the stereo debut of Smiley Smile and Beach Boys Party!, while The Beach Boys Today! and Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) are
being released in stereo for the first time in their entirety. The new
releases include the first-ever stereo mixes of several key Beach Boys
classics, including "Good Vibrations," "Help Me, Rhonda," "I Get
Around," and "409," among others.

The Beach Boys continue to hold Billboard / Nielsen
SoundScan's record as the top-selling American band for albums and
singles, and they are also the American group with the most Billboard Top 40 chart hits (36). 'Sounds Of Summer: The Very Best Of The Beach Boys' has achieved triple-Platinum sales status, and 'The SMiLE Sessions,' released to worldwide critical acclaim in November, was heralded as 2011's #1 Reissue of the Year by Rolling Stone magazine.